Smartphone touted as 'remote for your life' at CES

A Nokia Lumia smartphone is pictured in a shop in Warsaw, January 11, 2013. Nokia said strong sales of Lumia smartphones helped its mobile phone business achieve underlying profitability in the fourth quarter, raising hopes the struggling handset maker may be past the worst. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) - It can talk to your car, your refrigerator, water your plants and help you stay fit and healthy: the smartphone is becoming the consumer's remote control for life.

That was the message delivered by dozens of firms at the International Consumer Electronics Show, where terms like "appification" were tossed around freely.

The hundreds of thousands of "apps" developed for mobile platforms such as Apple's iOS, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone and showcased at the Las Vegas tech gathering are quickly taking a lot of functions that people or different devices used to do.

Nowhere was this more evident in the "connected home" zone of the world's biggest technology show. Samsung, the South Korean tech giant, showed a connected refrigerator which can stream music from a smartphone, while US appliance maker Dacor unveiled what it called the "first Android oven," with a panel to check emails and the Web.